Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Less Than Angels cover art

Less Than Angels

By: Barbara Pym
Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Barbara Pym: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Celia's House cover art
The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym cover art
The Diary of a Provincial Lady cover art
The Making of a Marchioness cover art
High Rising cover art
The Complete Mapp and Lucia, Volume 1 cover art
The Lark Shall Sing cover art
The Stratton Story cover art
So Late in the Day cover art
Gloomsbury cover art
Someone at a Distance cover art
Undue Influence cover art
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day cover art
Hotel du Lac cover art
Paradise Postponed cover art

Summary

Less Than Angels follows the loves, works and hopes of a group of young anthropologists.

Catherine Oliphant is a writer and lives with handsome anthropologist Tom Mallow. Their relationship runs into trouble when he begins a romance with student Deirdre Swann, so Catherine turns her attention to the reclusive anthropologist Alaric Lydgate, who has a fondness for wearing African masks.

Added to this love triangle are the activities of Deirdre's fellow students and their attempts to win the competition for a research grant. The course of true love - or academia - never did run smooth.

©1955 Barbara Pym (P)2013 Library Magna Books Ltd

Critic reviews

"A modern Jane Austen." (Alexander McCall Smith)

What listeners say about Less Than Angels

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    48
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    45
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    41
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing.

I adore Barbara Pym but found this book had dated gracelessly and the cultural racist arrogance was more than I felt able to make allowances for in the context of the era when it was written.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • me
  • 25-02-19

Fabulous!

This was the most enjoyable of all the Barbara Pym audio books I've listened to. She has an amazing insight into human nature and as with her other novels, I found myself laughing out loud. I wish there were more... extremely highly recommended. I think I even prefer her as an author to Muriel Spark.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A delightful 'old fashioned' novel , entertaining but providing food for thought.

The author has great skill in describing situations, characters, appearance in a way that brings them to life. The book is full of wry humour and perceptive observation of a way of life and an ordering of society which is long gone, yet in a way seems bang up to date. It has the flavour of everyday life with added piquancy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Comedy of Manners at its best

A gently witty and enjoyable story, beautifully read by the narrator. I love all Barbara Pym's novels, and this one is up there with the best. Loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Ways of living

If the author’s other novels could be collectively described as wry comedies of English middle class life in the 1940s and 50s, then this book might be her attempt to add a dash of complexity to the recipe.

This tale about fustian anthropologists and those that know them combines amusement with a thread of melancholy, as we are asked to consider that if life is for living how should that living be evaluated. In the telling I felt that there may well also be a hint of self portrait in the character of Catherine.

A well performed, amusing and consistently interesting excursion into a bygone time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Classic Pym

A wonderful performance of a great novel by Barbara Pym. It was so enjoyable hearing about the progress of other characters from the anthropological world, whom we met in previous novels. A real escape from the stresses of everyday life in the 2020's.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!